Cox helps pilot Rutgers to 3-0 in Rice's absence

He had to make sure Rutgers kept it together in its final three non-conference games while coach Mike Rice served a three-game suspension.

The school also fined Rice $50,000 and banned him from all contact with the team for a violation of athletic-department policy.

The Scarlet Knights went 3-0 in that stretch with wins over UAB, Howard and Friday’s 68-56 victory over Rider.

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“This was a stop-gap,” Cox said. “We had three games where we had to hold the rope, which is what I think we did.”

Rice returns for Rutgers’ Big East opener Jan. 2 at Syracuse.

Cox said the team is ready to get back to normalcy.

“I think they are excited about the Big East play and coach Rice coming back with his fiery temperament,” Cox said. “Don’t take anything away from the way they came together as a team. That group came together and showed how they can play selfless basketball on both ends of the floor.”

For their part, the players felt like they grew closer together during the past two weeks.

“As a team, we feel like we came together really well,” said senior forward Dane Miller, who led Rutgers with 18 points. “With Rice being gone, we felt like we had to keep his intensity, his formula. I feel like we did that.

“Before this, a lot of people didn’t really believe, but I feel like getting these three wins without the head boss, people will feel like, ‘OK, they are legit a little bit.’”

Said Kadeem Jack, who had 12 points off the bench: “It brought us real close as a team. We feel like we could do some special things with this group.”

It could even help in the long term.

“We made some progress as a team over the last two weeks,” said Cox, admitting that Rice probably has a laundry list of notes. “We as a group made the most of this.”